Is paying off a debt prioritized over paying zakah?
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
Question : May Allah reward you. The questioner says: A man has reached the time for paying his zakah, and he has a debt that is due. Which should he pay first, the debt or the zakah?
Answer : If the debt became due before the zakah became obligatory, he should start with the debt. For example, if the debt is due in Sha'ban and the zakah is due in Ramadan, he must pay the debt in Sha'ban, and then when Ramadan comes, he will have nothing, or he will pay zakah on what he has if anything remains. However, if the debt becomes due after the zakah, it is obligatory to pay the zakah.
Answer : If the debt became due before the zakah became obligatory, he should start with the debt. For example, if the debt is due in Sha'ban and the zakah is due in Ramadan, he must pay the debt in Sha'ban, and then when Ramadan comes, he will have nothing, or he will pay zakah on what he has if anything remains. However, if the debt becomes due after the zakah, it is obligatory to pay the zakah.
Source
قناة «فضيلة الشيخ محمد بن صالح العثيمين»، لقاء[88 من 145] هل يقدم سداد الدين على إخراج الزكاة؟ الشيخ ابن عثيمين - مشروع كبار العلماء — youtube.com
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.